Saturday

This morning, over breakfast, I got talking to the local prospector. He finds 3-5oz of gold per day, but has to crush a lot of rocks to retrieve it. At $650 per ounce, that's nice work - but it's a lot tougher (and less romantic) than sitting by a stream panning, as the images in the bars like to show. Still, I'm surprised not more people are doing it.

The three passes out of Sumpter once again proved to be less horrifying than the route elevation profile would have you believe. I should know better by now, but when you see a near-vertical line heading up 1000ft it's hard not to think there's going to be some pain involved. The road, in fact, wound itself pleasantly through a forest carpeted with pine needles scattered with pinecones the size of avocados. It was another still, frosty morning, with crisp sunlight and blue skies.

At the bottom of the second pass, I spied three cyclists resting and mending punctures outside the (closed) cafe/store/campground at Austin Junction (the place I'd thought had had accommodation). Hi there Jon, Don, and Mike! Turns out they're doing the TransAmerica trail from Yorktown to San Fransisco. Just as we were chatting, a voice came out of nowhere asking us if we wanted any drinks or ice-cream. Was it some kind of angel? It was so dark inside the building, at first we couldn't figure out where the voice was coming from, but a lady opened up the store for us. Mmm... huckleberry ice-cream, and cool water to refill our bottles. So we cycled over the third pass together, in the afternoon heat. They headed on to Dayville, but I stopped early at John Day (town motto: 'Every day should be a John day.' OK, not really, but it should be).

About Me

2010 UPDATE & HANDY READING GUIDE

I've updated my blog. There are 3 reasons why: 1) so it reads from start to finish rather than the other way round; 2) so I can include some episodes that never made it to the original; and 3) to add some photos. A consequence of this is that the blog archive below reads as if all blogs were produced in June 2010. It's just the way Blogger works. The original dates are incorporated in the individual blog titles.

If you want to use the tags at the bottom of each blog, remember to click 'Older Post' when you want to go to the next, newer, one.

The detailed maps also work as chapter headings: they correspond to each of the 12 cycle maps I needed to get from coast to coast.

INTRODUCTION

This Summer, I'm cycling across North America from Bar Harbor, Maine to Florence, Oregon. 4,300 miles, give or take a few. The first three weeks of my trip I'll be accompanied by my friends Edward & Ewa, and the rest will be solo. None of us are fitness freaks, but we do like the outdoors and looking at nice views. We've been in training since last November, and hopefully will be in reasonable shape come our start date, July 2nd.

I'm doing it simply for the adventure, but if you're interested, I'm also going to be raising money for the charity Architects For Aid. They do great work, and you can find out more about them by clicking the link at the top of this page. There's a link to my sponsorship page below.

I'll be updating this weblog regularly, so come back soon,John.

My Favourites List

TV Commercial: "Obsessing over celebrity is wrong..." Yup, the prize for best TV ad - and this will come as no surprise to Edward & Ewa - goes to Wendy's Baconator. Watch it here, if you dare (click on the black & white image of a guy screaming...)

Breakfast: Again, no surprises for E&E - a tie between oatmeal with raisins, brown sugar & maple syrup, and two eggs (scrambled) with hashbrowns and white toast.

State: Tough call, but the M's have it, in a tie between Minnesota and Montana.

The Internal Jukebox

I decided not to take my MP3 Player with me. Too heavy, and I wanted to listen to crickets and birds. But nature abhors a vaccuum so during this trip, from time to time, I've found myself singing or humming an assortment of tunes. In a roughly chronological order, here's the ones I remember: